A good mod is that Worthy Heroes mod, it makes the random heroes you can get much, much better. As it is some nations get almost completely useless ones. And almost every MP game uses it so it wouldn't really be much adjustment for new players.
Ossa: you have to chose a nation you can not go random
Gowb: That would be a good mod to use so we will probably use it
Goodchild: Your in
ghostwes: the reason why R'lyeh would be a bad idea is that they are the hardest to actually fight with insanity and all that, and yes you can use Ermor